Nota Baixing
Nota Baixing is a noble that was adopted into House Reticulum during the War Against the Artificials by Jianyu Baixing following the death of his parents. It is known that Nota was not originally a part of House Reticulum and that the Baixing family are his closest living relatives, but not specifically which House he was from. Title & Responsibilities Nota is a Shinkan - a independent Crafter of House Reticulum, and theoretically the lowest on the totem pole. He has to get materials and forge his weapons within his own forge, more or less by himself if he doesn't want to shell out the credits for help. As a relatively minor, and new, Crafter within the House Reticulum, Nota doesn't exactly have people clamoring to buy weapons from him, at least compared to other established Reticulum. As such, he not only has to find resources and ways to make and/or improve his weapons, but clientele as well. Both of these have led to Nota's travels among the planets of Acheron Rho. Traits and Appearance Nota looks rather young for his age. He looks just into his twenties, in spite of being nearly 30. He has a darker, East Asian complexion, with brown eyes and black hair, though the right half of it has been dyed a platinum blond. He is clean shaven and has a lean, but muscled, build. Nota is known to wear extravagant clothing among the Reticulum, although most put it up to the influence of his deceased Lyran significant other. He is rarely ever seen without some sort of masquerade-like mask on, only ever taking it off to craft and during extremely emotional moments, both for himself and others. Should one ever be able to catch a peak beneath Nota's clothing, or should he be wearing something a bit more revealing, they will notice his tattoos. They run from his left hand, all the way up to the left half of his neck, running down his oblique, shoulder, and back. It is speculated that these are Ash Ink Tattoos picked up after the death of his partner. Following Nota's disappearance, he has gained a large scar that arcs from the center of the left side of his neck to the center of his throat, cutting off his tattoos, in addition to several smaller scars. His tattoos also expanded, though it is unlikely they are Ash Ink Tattoos, due to the fact that his fallen comrades had no body to burn. Also, it has been observed on occasion that Nota's brown eyes sometimes seem orange, or that his skin is sometimes lighter or darker than it should be. Biography Nota was neither born a Reticulum nor born on Aomori. Instead, he was born and raised for the first 6 years of his life on Kama, in the Osun System (Hex #0400) . While his parents were away fighting the war, he was raised by a nanny by the name of Blaire Watts, who protected him until his to-be foster father came to them with news: Nota's parents had been shot down in battle. After a short time, it was confirmed by Blaire, who allowed for Nota to be taken in by Jianyu Baixing, and was never seen nor heard from by Nota again. Nota was then taken directly to Aomori to start his education, on which he was four years behind due to his upbringing in a different house. Not all was well during Nota's childhood. He was at the age where needless child cruelty happened often, and he had several "cousins" - the great grand children of Jianyu, his own great grandfather - that were of a similar age. As he was the outsider, he was often the target childish pranks and bullying, more so due to his lack of knowledge on all things Reticulum. Nota studied his hardest in an attempt to catch up, guided personally by the hand of Jianyu towards the path of the Crafter, something the Baixing family rarely produced anymore, with Jianyu himself being the last Crafter to come out of the family. When the time of assessment came, Nota was deemed competent enough to be made into a Crafter of Reticulum standard. For the next four years, Nota continued to be guided by Jianyu's hand towards the path of the Crafter, even as his cousins started down the path of Wielders. When the time came, after 8 years of time on Aomori, Nota elected to take the path of the Crafter, as his "Grandfather" before him, while his cousins too continued on their own path. From there, Nota continued into a secondary education, eventually being apprentice to a disciple of Jianyu, a woman by the name of Liang Zhenya, before eventually graduating at the age of 18. After his education, Nota spent two years as an assistant to his grandfather, assisting in the collection of materials as well as the creation of weapons as his grandfather continued to teach him trade secrets and knowledge Jianyu had gained through wisdom and experience. Afterwards, Nota set off on his own, although he still kept in constant contact with his adoptive family. While on his travels to find clientele, supplies, contacts, and suppliers, Nota met someone. A noble by the name of Xeper Lyra Hanako Calla, whom he began something of a whirlwind romance with, before a marriage just three years after they had met. It has a happy, productive time for Nota, but as he would come to learn, all things must Pass, and his significant other would do so much earlier than most. Nota's not really sure what, exactly, killed his partner, only that it had happened while they were on a planet, searching for materials and attempting to establish contact, three years after their marriage. The only thing that he's truly sure of, is that the death was far from natural, and they ended up on the wrong end of something. After the funeral, Nota went back to Aomori for more post-secondary education, to be with his family, to mourn and celebrate his much beloved significant other. He has worn a masquerade-like mask ever since he had come back, only taking them off in moments of extreme emotion, and it's speculated he removes them when crafting. After a further 3 years of education and creation, Nota has started his travels once more as a Crafter of House Reticulum. His network a bit of a mess, Nota has set out to restart his life, with new memories and experiences to temper him and his work. Following a 2-month tour of the Core and its nearby planets, Nota attempted to return to Aomori to start his work once more. However, this was, unfortunately, delayed by several months when 17 member of Nota's crew - traitorous Velan agents - mutinied, killing all of his guards and medical staff and throwing the HRS Best Wedding Gift hurtling into Drive Space towards directions unknown. What followed was an arduous, months long process of slowly reclaiming his damaged ship from Velan hands, finally claiming the final stronghold - the control center - mere days before being found by Ranger Pyxis Emma Jekyill and her Black Pack. What happened during Nota's missing months is unknown to everyone except the remnants of the crew of the HRS Best Wedding Gift, all that is known is that Nota came back with new scars and a new bearing; that of a jaded commander trying his best to imitate what he once was. Creations Ako's Stun Baton Ako's stun baton is made of 3 distinct segments, with a base 3.5 cm, with 2 extendable segments each with plates that are ½ centimeters thick, all with a curved almost-octagonal shape. It’s a slick, matte gray-black color with dull, golden accents crawling around it, weaving through and mixing with each other. Within the gold-colored accents, if one scrutinizes the weapon closely, one can see a signature “Baixing Nota.” At first, it is seemingly nothing but a 15-centimeter-long cylinder with a hand guard. However, with only a deft flick of the wrist and a press one of two buttons, it can become either flashlight or a 45 cm long stun baton. Should one press the flashlight button while the baton is fully extended, the baton will create a cage of electricity, extending down 15 cm from the tip, designed to phase through enemy armors. The base has a small opening able to hold up to 7-10 pills, one injection, or 5 patches. Each of the two segments are made of ½ centimeter thick pseudo-metal plates that remain inactive to electromagnetic fields until activated, making it easy to pass through metal detectors. Should one look inside the baton, they would literally see tangling webs. In place of wires is Conductor Silk, made from the Czarn-Baixing Silk Manufactory. Once extended to three segments, the electricity starts up automatically at the top half of the 3rd segment, unable to travel lower due to the non-conductive properties of the rest of the baton. Should the wielder hold down the same button used to extend to 3 segments for a short period of time, the electricity will turn off, while the baton is fully extended. Hobbies and Interests Most of Nota's time is spent cultivating contacts as well as establishing clientele and suppliers. However, when he has time away from those things and Crafting, Nota quite enjoys the thrill of Jaegergems, as well as reading during his down time, something that reminds him of his time with Calla. In any other spare time he has, Nota likes to try to improve his ability to Wield.Category:Characters Category:Patreons Category:House Reticulum Members